The samurai were fearless warrior, who became powerful in Japan around the 1200s. The samurai, which means "those who serve," were hired by lords to fight their wars and protect their land. The samurai were expert fighters; they were skilled with the sword and bow and arrow, and they were superior horsemen. They were athletic and strong, and they developed their fighting skills into what is the basis of modern martial arts. The samurai had a code of honor called Bushido, which meant "Way of the Warrior." The samurai had to have unquestionable loyalty to the emperor and their lord (the daimyo). They were trustworthy, honest, kind and generous to the poor. They led feudal lives and had no interest in riches or jewels. They were only interested in honor and pride. Additionally, they had to be men of noble spirit who were not afraid of death, because death in battle only meant honor to their lord and family. If samurai lost a battle or a fight, they would have to commit seppuku rather than face dishonor. The samurai developed a special way of dressing. They wore their hair tied back in a top-knot, and their brow and crown were shaved. Samurai wore simple clothes when they were not fighting. However, when they were fighting, they wore armor that was made from leather or iron strips, so it was completely flexible. Their most important weapon and sign of their class was a pair of matching swords. Only samurai had the right to carry swords. They believed that swords had special powers. The people who made swords were master craftsmen, and to this day, people can tell who created the sword of a samurai by the way the blaze was making. The woman of the samurai followed the same code of ethics as the men did. Since the privileges and rights of the samurai were passed down from father to son, it was important for a wife to have a male child. Sometimes, a samurai took another wife if the first wife did not give birth to a son. Samurai women were trained fighters like their...

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...addition, the governments and landowners of both regions relied on professionally trained soldiers for protection. These soldiers were called knights in Europe. In Japan, they were known as samurai. In addition, both Europe and Japan had strong military leaders. As you recall, these military leaders were known as shoguns in Japan.
Similar Values In the feudal systems of both Japan and Europe, personal loyalty was greatly valued. The military skills of both knights andsamurai were also highly valued. As you read in Lesson 2, knights were expected to follow a code of behavior known as chivalry. According to this code, knights were kind to the weak, loyal to their lord, and courageous in battle. The samurai code of behavior was known as bushido. According to this code, samurai were generous, fearless in battle, and above all, loyal to their daimyo, or lord.
Although the feudal systems of Japan and Europe had many similarities, they also were different. Among the key differences were those involving religion, literature, and the role of women.
Religion Both knights and samurai were expected to be deeply religious. However, the two groups of warriors practiced different religions. Knights were Christians. Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. As you read in Chapter 8, samurai practiced ancient Shintoism as well as a form of Buddhism known as Zen....

...The Japanese warrior, known as the samurai, has played a significant role in Japan's history and culture throughout the centuries. Their ancestors can be traced back to as far as can be remembered. Some stories have become mysterious legends handed down over the centuries. In this report you will learn who the samurai were, their origins as we know them, how they lived and fought and their evolution to today. It will be clear why the samurai stand out as one of the most famous group of warriors of all times.
Looking back in time, the first Japanese battles recorded are in the first few centuries AD. At this time Japanese warriors went across the sea to Korea to help one kingdom battling two rival kingdoms. Four hundred men set out and fought on foot carrying their bows, spears and swords. They were quickly beaten by warriors attacking on horseback. They probably had never seen an attack like that before, with horses being ridden. Even though there were horses in Japan they had not been used for riding or fighting, but to help in carrying and pulling goods. In the next century, however, there is evidence that horses were being ridden and used in warfare by warriors who would later be called samurai (History Channel).
The term samurai was first used in the 10th century and means "those who serve". In the beginning it stood for men who guarded the capital for the Emperor, some where used as tax...

...need to edit. Make sure the sentences are corrected in terms of grammar, precision in meaning and sentence structure according to the context.
The samurai were people who go for wars, or soldiers that are not afraid, who became powerful in Japan around the 1200s. The samurai, which means “those who serve,” were hired by lords to fight their wars and protect their land. The samurai were expert fighters; they were skilled with the sword and bow and arrow, and they were superior horsemen. They were athletic and strong, and they developed their fighting skills into what is the basis of modern martial arts.
The samurai had a code of morals called Bushido, which meant “warrior way.” The samurai had to have loyalty that couldn’t be asked to the emperor and their lord (the daimyo). They were trustworthy, honest, kind and generous to the poor. They led fugal lives and had no interest in rich stuffs or materialistic. They were only interested in onor and price. Additionally, they had to be men of noble spirit who were not scared to dies, because death in battle only meant honor to their lord and family. If samurai lost a battle or a fight, they would have to kill themselves rather than face dishonor.
The samurai developed a special way of dressing. They wore their hair tied back in a top-knot, and their brow and crown were shaved. Samurai wore simple clothes when they...

...
Samurai today enjoy widespread popularity due to their depiction in western media as katana wielding warriors with a strict code of honor, comparable to the knights of arthurian legends. In reality, these two were not so different, as each upheld a similar code of conduct and chivalry. The Japanese variant, the samurai, followed a code of honor named Bushido, literally “The Way of the Warrior”.
When the Chinese visited Japan in the early 5th century BCE, they brought not only their writing system (the hanzi, ancestor of Japan’s modern kanji), but the ideas of Confucianism and Buddhism. These philosophies, along with Japan’s Shinto practices, helped shape the ideals of Bushido. Over the course of centuries, Bushido evolved into a samurai moral code stressing frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and honor unto death.
The code allowed for samurai violence to be tempered by wisdom, and soon evolved into a unique philosophy in Japan. Under the Tokugawa shogunate in the 1700s, Bushido was formalized into Japanese law, and various Japanese literary works, from as early as the 12th century, identify Bushido as particularly influential in Japan.
Bushido was aimed at leading samurai through a noble life, at the end of which a noble death with would be their reward. Had the samurai shamed himself or his family in any way, however, it was permitted he...

...Masculinity/ Femininity Dimension in the Last Samurai
According to Hofstede, Masculinity/ Femininity dimension explains
Masculinity:
The way the samurais in the movie were portrait are in fact extremely accurate to those that existed in the 18th century. From as young as seven or eight years of age, boys we turned from kids into killing samurais. In one of the scene’s of the movie, we see two young boys learning to fight with wooden sticks. Although so young, their skills were already better them most everyday adults. When trained further, their acceptance of death on the battlefield became greater and with more appreciation. To die at a battlefield was an honor for them as long as they were brave and what they did involved honor. Another interesting point that the film mentions is that for a Japanese samurai at the time, their sword meant more then anything in their life. As much as their friends an family mattered, nothing compared to the meaning of one’s sword, for it was said that a samurai’s sword was his soul. This way we can see how much the Japanese culture was focused on the samurai and their way of fighting. As the government began pressing on the issue that samurai’s are no longer to exist, a law was passed that no samurai shall be allowed to carry a sword in public or wear their hair in long queues. Many samurai’s unwilling to adapt to the new way of...

...The Samurai and the Bakumatsu Era
Eric Lemaire
12/09/05
English Comp I
Mrs. Halperin
The Bakumatsu Era was a crucial period of Japanese history at the end of the Tokugawa Era or Edo Period. It was a period of war and anarchy that was brought about by the introduction of western culture and constant battles between the imperialists and the loyalists. During this time and throughout history, thesamurai or bushi played an integral part in Japanese everyday life. As time progressed, we notice that many of them worked for the government and others worked and plotted against it. In a sense the samurai brought about their own demise. Throughout this period, the samurai maintained order and morality and did so with their code of conduct that was highly influenced by philosophies of Buddism and Zen. The last and fifteenth shogunate, which marked the most pivitol point in Japanese history, was administered by Tokugawa Yoshinobu who came into conflict with the emperor. During this time Japan underwent tremendous social, mental, and physical changes. Their culture was changing, their believes and priorities were different and this lead to a series of unprecedent events that forever changed Japan.
The system of government that was established in Japan during the Tokugawa Era was highly complex. At the very head of hierarichal ladder,...

...Seven Virtues of Bushido
The Way of the Samurai
Bushido was developed between the tenth to fourteenth centuries in Japan and spread through the warrior class. It was a code of conduct that during the time was unwritten passed down from generation to the next. The Bushido code has seven main virtues whose roots come from “Confucius” and “Zen Buddhism.” These seven virtues are known as Gi, Yu, Jin, Rei, Makoto, Meiyo, and Chugi. In Inazo Nitobe’s book “Bushido: The Soul of Japan he describes it as such: “Bushido, then, is the code of moral principles which the samurai were required or instructed to observe. More frequently it is a code unuttered and unwritten. It was an organic growth of decades and centuries of military career. These codes were held in the highest regard and the samurai were held in the same. They were revered for they were honor bound and it was this honor developed by the codes of conduct that made them into a military force that would last centuries.
The first of the seven main virtues is “Gi” (Rectitude) or better known as morality and integrity. In Inazo’s book, morality is defined in two ways: as the power of unwavering decision upon a certain course of conduct and the bone that gives firmness and stature. This gives the samurai the power to decide what course of conduct to take in accordance to reasoning without wavering. To die when it is time to die or to strike when it is time to...

...Yamamoto, Tsunetomo
Bushido: The Way of the Samurai
Garden City Park, NY
2002
After reading this book it is my belief that it is important for Westerners to understand the seemingly strange concepts of Bushido, not only as a guide to events of the past, but as a primer for understanding the Japanese business mentality of today. The first thought that comes to mind when Japanese work ethic is hard working, no breaks, complete commitment to ones job. There may be a reason why Japan was able to rebuild their country so quickly after World War II, this reason is Bushido, the principles of the samurai.
The origin of this book is from the Hagakure, which this book was based on was dictated by Tsunetomo Yamamoto, a samurai. And later scribed verbatim by Tsuramoto Tashiro over a period of seven years (1710-1716) in which they lived together in a far off mountain retreat in Japan. Tashiro was sworn to secrecy over the texts contents because the author believed the teachings to be far too radical and too militaristic for the then peaceful times during the Shogunate Rule (1603-1867). During this time of unusual calmness, the teachings of Buddhism and the ethical codes of Confucius permeated Japan, enriching every aspect of its culture from arts to politics. But the old samurai, Yamamoto, believed that the samurai, as a class, had become effeminate and weak. Yamamoto's basic premise was that the...

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